Next generation of wild cranes fledge on Somerset Levels

4 September 2017

The first successful fledging of a second generation of cranes has taken place after three years of nesting attempts on a Somerset nature reserve.

Ninety-four hand-reared cranes were released at the RSPB site on West Sedgemoor between 2010 and 2014.

This year three pairs of those cranes nested and reared four chicks, conservationists have reported.

Volunteer John Crispin managed to take a photograph of the first crane to fledge, while was in flight.

Liz Antliff-Clark, volunteer project coordinator for the RSPB in Somerset, said: "The chick will continue to be reared by the parent birds through the winter.

"Its father Legend and mother Elle are both six-year-old birds.

"Two of this year's four chicks were caught, radio tagged, and colour ringed by a local volunteer team so that their fortunes can be monitored - but this one escaped the team's attempts."

Continued 

Herons flock to Somerset Levels as nests hit record high

By Western Morning News | Posted: April 18, 2014

RSPB staff have been surprised at the volume of Herons nesting at Swell Woods on the RSPB reserve near Curry Rival in Somerset.

RSPB staff have been surprised at the volume of Herons nesting at Swell Woods on the RSPB reserve near Curry Rival in Somerset.

The catastrophic flooding of the Somerset Levels took its toll on the human population but herons are now thriving and have flocked to the new wetlands in record numbers.

The annual nest count at the RSPB reserve at Swell Woods, which is near Curry Rivel, east of Taunton, close to the flooded area, revealed a near 50% surge in numbers from 98 last year to 145 – the highest ever recorded.

Site manager Harry Paget-Wilkes said there were now almost 300 birds in an area measuring less than an acre with some oak trees containing as many as 10 separate nests.

“It is an impressive site and can be quite a racket especially in the mornings when they are their most active,” he added.

“There are also little egrets nesting which make an amazing gurgling noise.

“I was expecting a higher number as I live on the Levels and had noticed there seemed to be a lot more birds around.”

There are estimated to be around 12,000 pairs of the birds in the UK with about 1% of the population in the South West.

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Bird nests in the RSPB’s Great Crane Project hit by flooding on the Somerset Levels

By WG_SMorgan | Posted: March 04, 2014

FLOODS on the Somerset Levels could prevent rare birds that have been reintroduced to the area from breeding.

The RSPB’s Great Crane Project runs a breeding ground near Langport and aims to restore healthy populations of wild common cranes throughout the UK.

Last year eggs were brought over from Germany and hatched on to the Levels.

But while the birds are able to access higher ground for safety and feeding, the floods could affect nesting.

Damon Bridge, project manager, said: “For many local people, businesses and farms the flooding has been very damaging indeed.

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A Snipe's Tale - Part III - Tony Whitehead

Tony Whitehead 

25 Feb 2014 9:53 PM 

In the third of a short series of blogs the RSPB’s Tony Whitehead describes why the Somerset Levels are a special place, and why the RSPB wants them to thrive for both wildlife and people.

The Levels are a naturally formed floodplain, but one that has been manipulated over centuries by people. And yet one where people and nature can thrive side by side. And there’s a beauty to it. That a particular sort of farming, cattle grazing, has produced a system that also gives the right conditions for wetland birds such as snipe to thrive. That animals munching and chomping their way across fields creates places for our snipe to feed and nest. That the need for cattle to have extra food when the grass has been eaten produced hay meadows in which curlew and skylark feed and nest.

Continued

A Snipe’s Tale - Part II - Tony Whitehead

Tony Whitehead 

25 Feb 2014 2:39 PM 

In the second of a short series of blogs, the RSPB’s Tony Whitehead describes why the Somerset Levels are a special place, and why the RSPB wants them to thrive for both wildlife and people.

The snipe is an improbable looking bird. It’s a small creature, with beautifully cryptic brown markings. And a disproportionately long bill. A bill that evolution has fine tuned over millennia to do one thing – to search out small creepy crawlies deep in the soft damp earth.

Its length is however just one feature of a design that is way more subtle. Naturally, if you’re probing around in the soil you can’t see what lies beneath. For this reason the tip of the bill is pitted with clusters of nerves, making it hyper sensitive to the slightest movement. That’s good, but the next problem to overcome is, simply, how do you open your bill to swallow something if it’s stuck in the ground? To prise the whole length open would take quite some effort. But the snipe has an elegant solution. Instead of prising it open fully, the bird has the ability to open just the tip of its bill (which, for Scrabble fans, is called rhynchokinesis). Clever things these snipe.

Continued

A Snipe’s Tale - Part I - Tony Whitehead

Tony Whitehead 

24 Feb 2014 4:12 PM 

In a short series of blogs the RSPB’s Tony Whitehead describes why the Somerset Levels are a special place, and why the RSPB wants them to thrive for both wildlife and people.

Spring 2009. A still, cool, early morning. I’m standing a little way along on one of the droves that, if followed, take you out into the vast flat-lands of West Sedgemoor. I’m listening. Across the moor I hear an impossible sound. In some ways it’s like the whinnying of a horse. In others the bleating of goat. I raise my binoculars but strain to see the creature producing the sound. Fortunately it’s a familiar sound – the “drumming” of a snipe, a bird of which I’m particularly fond, and for which the Levels and Moors are special.

The sound is produced by air rushing across two specially stiffened feathers either side of the tail as the bird plummets to the ground. It’s part of the male‘s courtship display, a marking of territory, an expression of prowess. It’s a sound that, every time I hear it, reminds me that the Levels are a special place. And there are now precious few sites in lowland England where you can hear this.

Continued

Quango 'cares more about birds than people': Environment Agency under fire for not dredging rivers in Somerset and then spending £20m on bird sanctuaries

EA attacked over plan not to conduct draining in the Somerset Levels

Studies showed dredging two main rivers could have reduced flooding

Government blamed for removing flood protection from priorities list

By GERRI PEEV

PUBLISHED: 23:38, 2 February 2014 | UPDATED: 00:31, 3 February 2014

Environmental quangos have been accused of being more concerned about animal habitats than the dangers of flooding after a failure to dredge rivers.

The Environment Agency has come under fire over its controversial plan not to conduct draining in the flood-prone Somerset Levels, on the advice of Natural England and the Royal Society for the Protection of Birds.

It emerged yesterday that the agency had carried out studies which showed dredging the Levels’ two main rivers could have significantly reduced flooding.

Read more: http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-2550680/Quango-cares-birds-people-Environment-Agency-fire-not-dredging-rivers.html#ixzz2sGyqMKZr